Tamkeen to open four new offices by year-end

Manama, June 26, 2014

Bahrain's labour fund Tamkeen will open four new branches around the country by the end of this year, it was announced yesterday (June 26).

They will open in Riffa, Sitra, Hamad Town and Muharraq and will complement an existing customer service centre in Seef and Tamkeen's headquarters in Sanabis, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

The idea is to improve the public's access to Tamkeen services and chief executive officer Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa revealed more branches could open in future.

He revealed the plans during a monthly meeting of Riyadat, a non-profit subsidiary of the Bahrain Development Bank (BDB) in A'ali that helps young Bahraini women open new businesses with support from Tamkeen.

Success

"We have now agreed that our representatives will be present in all BDB's branches after the success of initial trials," said Shaikh Mohammed.

"But the bigger vision is to open our own branches across Bahrain's five governorates and there are four that will be operative by the end of the year in Sitra, Riffa, Hamad Town and Muharraq."

However, Shaikh Mohammed said Tamkeen's programmes remained suspended until an evaluation is completed - with new initiatives planned from September.

"We have been entrusted with businessmen's contributions and we have to ensure that they are being invested or pumped into the market in the best way possible," he said.

"We will group related businesses in one incubator as we aim to categorise rather than work openly, similar to the case with Riyadat, which has been established to support young businesswomen," she said.

"So if it is cars, then an incubator full of specialised Bahraini businesses in mechanical and electrical hardware or electronic software will be available, and so on.

"The bank wants to encourage young Bahraini entrepreneurs to take a leading role and there are successful examples that we have produced through our support programmes and we want to continue at the same rate or better." - TradeArabia News Service